Senior sports reporter with The Age

The Central Coast Mariners must surely be the A-League’s equivalent of the little engine that could.

In the children’s book, the little engine is the one that succeeds in pulling the long train of coaches over the mountain when all the bigger, more powerful engines have failed.

Its pluck, courage and self-belief are characterised by its incantation, ''I think I can, I think I can'', the phrase it repeats to itself as it struggles towards the summit, straining and pulling despite all the signs indicating that such a task is beyond it.

The Mariners seem to pull off a similar feat nearly every season, defying expectations and the doomsayers to make themselves a constant threat.

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Their gutsy win over Melbourne Heart on Sunday just two days after arriving back in the country from an Asian Champions League match keeps them right in the finals mix. With 36 points from their 24 games they sit in fourth spot on a tightly congested ladder.

They could finish as high as second, or they could miss out on the finals completely, such is the competitive nature of the A-League. But history suggests that their togetherness, fighting spirit and ability to get a result when few expect it will give them a chance to at least defend the title they won last year, a long overdue and much deserved reward for the club’s consistency since the A-League’s inception.

Their provincial status means they have a much smaller potential target market of fans to draw on, so their average crowd of around 9000 this season might look poor but, on a per capita basis, is not too bad considering the population base in which they operate.

The club is always praised for its community spirit and involvement, yet there always seem to be stories casting doubt on its long-term viability and whether it will be able to stay in Gosford or not.

Its constant search for investors is a long-running theme in the football media, while there are frequent proposals to play several games a season at other locations to build the fan base further and generate more money.

It can’t be easy to work against such a backdrop of uncertainty, but the Mariners' football department is able to shut out the distractions and continue to get results, first under Lawrie McKinna, its inaugural A-League coach, then under Graham Arnold, now in Japan, and currently with Arnold’s former assistant, Phil Moss, at the helm.

Its record as a nursery for future professionals cannot be gainsaid. Every year, the Mariners grow and develop a successful side, and – with the regularity of an autumn harvest – come March, April and May, the picks of the crop are plucked and bought by other clubs, usually overseas.

The club has generated talents such as Socceroo goalkeeper Matty Ryan, who left for Club Brugge after helping the Mariners win the title last season, and recent international debutant Alex Wilkinson, who now plays in South Korea.

Not to mention Australia captain Mile Jedinak, a player who got his chance at the Mariners in the early days of the A-League when no other club would give him a deal. Jedinak has since gone on to lead Crystal Palace into the English Premier League as well as captain his country – a testament to McKinna’s vision and faith and the nurturing environment in Gosford.

Others to have shone in the yellow and blue include Tom Rogic, Trent Sainsbury and Oliver Bozanic, another in international contention.

Rogic, like Jedinak, was given his chance to excel on the Central Coast when he emerged as a prodigious talent a couple of years ago. Rogic is widely expected to be part of the national squad for the World Cup in Brazil and has the skill and technical ability to be a Socceroo mainstay for several years if he can add consistency to his undoubted ability.

Sainsbury, who was sold to Dutch Eredivise side FC Zwolle earlier this year, is another who has been touted as a future Socceroo and a chance to make the World Cup squad if he recovers from injury in time.

Of course, the development and sale of these players makes money for the Mariners, but it does make it difficult to build continuity on the field.

Of the starting eleven who won the grand final against Western Sydney Wanderers less than a year ago, seven are no longer with the club and only two – Josh Rose and Mile Sterjovski – lined up in the starting eleven against Heart on Sunday.

That hasn’t stopped Moss’s men from getting on with the job, however, relying on their default characteristics of self-belief, organisation and spirit to come out on top.

“The way we finished over the top of them showed we are in great shape, and I couldn’t be happier with the solidarity, belief, courage, mental strength and physical stamina we showed today,” Moss said after that game, summing up the Mariners' core strengths in lucid, succinct fashion.